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I was wondering I have unpaid medical bills I heard if they aren't paid anything medical cant hurt your credit or ruin your credit score when you go for a loan? Is this true?

[ Answer this question ]Want to answer more questions in the Work & School category?Maybe give some free advice about: Personal Finance?Jay33 answered Friday September 14 2012, 7:43 am:Some of what flare stated is true. I would suggest you research. First look at your credit reports. You can find out what is considered outstanding and if what marks on your report. You can also find out where that specific debt is and who is in charge of collecting it, whether it still is with the medical company (hospital) or transferred to a collection agency. The problem that people don't realize is that credit reports go on a FICO system. There are many things that reflect and cause damage or even impact your score. Flare stated it was your credit cards that have the biggest impact and charging. That is somewhat true. What Flare is describing to called the debt to credit ratio. Basically it the amount of credit you have available vs the amount of debt you have. This counts for about 30% of your FICO score. So if you have 3 credit cards and they have a limit of 1000 and you are maxed at 1000 on all of them, then you have a really low debt to credit ratio and since it counts as 30% of your FICO score, then it impacts your credit score more. THe biggest thing anyone can do to fix a credit score quickly is by paying off their debt. The debt to credit ratio does not only apply to credit cqrds, it includes all debt, such as medical bills and etc. Another thing that affects your score is payment history. Have you been late, are their charge offs, collections, bankruptcies, etc. You have to be careful. This isn't as much as the debt to credit ration but it can affect the score. Another the the amount years and different forms of credit you have and the amount f years you have the accounts for. So don't run too many credit inquiries, such as opening too many new cards and etc. If you declare bankrupt, most debt maybe dismissed by in it, but you would have to talk to a lawyer about that. I'm not sure of those details, but one thing that doesn't go are student loans. So if you have debt in that. Try to get rid of it. Otherwise, for you medical loans, i would look to see who is controlling the repayment of it or if it has gone to collections. There are some ways to help you. Talk to the company in charge of the bill before they rport it to the credit bureaus. See if they will make a settlement, but I doubt they will. That's a form of stealing. See if there are grants or places to help. Avoid going to these places that say they will fix your credit for you. You can do this stuff yourself and for free usually. Also look for discrepencies on your credit report and then write to the company to have them fix it. IF they dont then write to the credit bureau and show proof to have them fix the problem. It takes a little work, but its worth it. If you cant afford to pay your bills go to a legitimate place by the government that helps. But there are other ways to fix things. Transfer your highest apr to a lower one This saves you money. Try to become current on all your debt. Don't be late. Those late fees hurt and then they also report to the credit bureaus after 30 days and then your score drops which can affect other things, not only being able to get other loans. It may affect being able to get jobs as some companies even check credit reports now. Honestly, knowledge is power. Don't fall for quick fix schemes or make it rich schemes. Slow wins the race. Research and work on it.[ Jay33's advice column | Ask Jay33 A Question ]

orphans answered Friday June 22 2012, 5:28 am:The medical company does not have to tell credit agencies if they do not want to: it's voluntary.

If they do, it will effect your score, but it will be negligible. So it won't make too much of a difference. They care more about people that get a credit card and go on a spending spree, and never pay back.

But, you should note, that if the medical company decides to enforce the medical bill with the use of a collection agency, that may also show up on your credit report.

In short: it can make a difference, but is negligible. You should contact a couple ratings agencies to double check.

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